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User talk:Starasiah
The beginning How have choices about the war affect choices at home? And how should lessons from Vietnam shape decisions and attitudes towards the Iraq conflict? These guiding questions show the relationship between both the Iraq war and the war in Vietnam. There have been many similarities in both wars, but there is also one difference that separates the two. The affects from war did affect things at home During the Vietnam War choices that were about the war did affect things at home. That was when President Lyndon Johnson was trying to introduce the “Great Society” program. During that time Johnson introduced goals that would rebuild the United States. His goals were to have Medicare to benefit older Americans from 65 and older, and Medicaid for low-cost health insurance for poor Americans. From a reading on the “Great Society” Lyndon Johnson recited a speech at the University of Michigan on May, 1964 that states, “Your imagination, your initiative, and your indignation will determine whether we build a society where progress is the servant of our needs, or a society where old values and new visions are buried under unbridled unrestrained growth. For in your time we have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society and the powerful society, but upward toward the Great Society.” This quote explains how Johnson felt about the change that he thought the Great Society would bring to the United States. This also shows he was excited for the change and had a lot of potential to bring it together. The president was unable to provide programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and the department of housing and urban development, because of all the money spent in Vietnam to contain communism. The United States was to busy worrying about Vietnam, while things at home were not being taken care of. Choices at war affect's choices at home During the time of the war in Iraq, choices about the war have also affected things at home. While spending billions of money on war, we are still trying to provide money to prevent unwanted “Terrorists”, but at the same time we are forgetting choices at home like education. It states in a New York Times article “The Era of Exploitation” of May of 2005 that “Education funding would be cut beginning next year, and cuts would grow larger in succeeding years. “ How can we be spending so much money on a war when we are stopping more and more kids to go to school, The cost of the war right now is 144.4 billion. With that money we could be spending money on safeguarding our ports for 7.5 billion dollars, or 10 billion on protecting American commercial airlines from shoulder- fired missiles. This similarity does not separate Vietnam and the war in Iraq, because both did not take things at home into consideration. Assumptions that misguided U.S. policy in Vietnam Some Assumptions in both Vietnam and Iraq was the idea that these wars were going to be easy once you get the leader down. In Vietnam the people were not allowed to get there own leaders, because Diem was placed by the United States. This misguided the United States policy, because Diem was a dictator and that was not what the United States represented. The United States represents democracy so placing a dictator only made it seem that they were for whatever Diem had to offer. The United States assumed that by just putting someone in charge would allow everything to just fall in place. Assumptions that misguided U.S. policy in Iraq During the war in Iraq, the Iraqi people were allowed to pick their own leaders. This was very different from what happened in Vietnam. This is one issue that the United States tried to do differently. Allowing the Iraqi people to chose their own leaders, showed that the United States were trying to make a change from what they did in Vietnam, but in reality the thought that stood in the back of the Iraqi people’s mind was that they were still aware of all the bad things that the united states has done, and was concerned about the united states just using them in the future for their resources. In a New York Times article “For a Battered Populace, a Day of Civic Passion.” From a January 2005 issue a London trained engineer states, “We thank the Americans for destroying the regime of Saddam,” he said. “But often, they were not careful for the people; they did many things wrong. Now we know what they are looking for. They are looking for oil, and military bases, and domination of the new regime. They will have their military headquarters for the new region in Iraq, and when they will leave, nobody knows.” This quote shows that the Iraqi people are aware of what the United States is doing. They are thankful that the United States has gotten rid of Saddam, but they will never forget the many things that they did wrong. They are also aware of the connection that the United States will have with their resources in the future. This is the one difference that could change the way the war in Iraq will end. The final thought In both Vietnam and the war in Iraq the United States risked many lives. In both wars we were not prepared for a long and costly war, but our presence still remained. We have gained more enemies in both the Vietnam and the war in Iraq, because we have been killing innocent people. More people were willing to fight against us because we have killed their friend, or love one. How can we say we were fighting in these wars to help the people and get them on the “good side” of the American people, but then again we are killing their people left and right? Is Iraq “George Bush’s Vietnam?” yes, history is definitely repeating itself. If we want to do the right thing for our country, then we must learn from our mistakes, not make the same ones over again. There have been many similarities between both the Vietnam and the war in Iraq. All of these similarities show that this is “George Bush’s Vietnam.” but there is only one difference that will determine whether if the war in Iraq will go a whole different direction from Vietnam. --Starasiah 09:51, 15 Apr 2005 (EDT)